News & Events - 2007

Susan Solomon Honored as AGU's 2007 William Bowie Medalist

16 July 2007

Susan Solomon has been selected as 2007 William Bowie Medalist of the American Geophysical Union. The presentation will be made at the Honors Ceremony at the 2007 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco on December 12.

Background: The Bowie Medal is AGU's highest honor. It was established in 1939 in honor of William Bowie for his "spirit of helpfulness and friendliness in unselfish cooperative research." Bowie was the first president of AGU (1920-1922) and the first recipient of the medal. The Bowie medal, awarded annually, acknowledges an individual for outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research, one of the guiding principles of AGU. William Bowie was a distinguished geodesist who was not only one of the founders of the American Geophysical Union and the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics but was also an architect of international cooperation in geophysical research.

Significance: The Bowie Medal is awarded to Dr. Solomon in recognition of her accomplishments on several fronts:

for her groundbreaking scientific research on the Earth's ozone layer and climate carried out via collaborations with U.S. and international partners;

for synthesizing this information for the good of humanity via her work in leading the IPCC climate assessment report and in the ozone-layer assessments;

for her lifelong endeavors to communicate science to educators, the public, and decisionmakers; and

for her unselfish efforts to foster the next generation of atmospheric scientists.

Dr. Solomon's achievements have epitomized the essence of the Bowie Medal's call for fundamental contributions to geophysics, coupled with unselfish cooperation in research and in service to society. Her research serves NOAA's mission in climate and air quality, and also advances NOAA's efforts to provide decision-support information on societally relevant topics and to help further the environmental literacy of students and the public.